Future Diary Survival Game-Chapter 30 : The Light of Despair - 4

Chapter 30: The Light of Despair - 4
Diana came to her senses before Eris did.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she simply stared quietly at me.
“……”
“……”
Her gaze hurt—terribly so.
Feeling like I had to explain myself, I was about to speak when Armelia opened her mouth first.
“You’ve really been through a lot, Diana.”
“I didn’t even do anything, though.”
“Uh, well… that’s true.”
“……”
“Still, you’ve worked hard.”
“What are you even saying!”
She must’ve been furious—furious enough to raise her voice even at the Princess herself.
In the end, Aina, Armelia, and I stepped forward together to explain the situation and apologize.
Diana barely managed to forgive us.
“You’re all my lifesavers, so I’ll hold it in.”
“Ah, yes. Once again, truly—thank you.”
“……It’s fine. You’re the one who did it, Mr. Mason, so I can’t exactly stay mad forever.”
“Ahaha.”
“You’ll send me back, right?”
“If that’s what you wish.”
Diana spoke with a faintly sorrowful smile.
“Yes. I want to. I need to hold my husband’s funeral.”
“What? But the body…”
“There wasn’t one. It seems that people who die in a quest can’t return to our world.”
“……”
“Since I can’t tell anyone about the quest, I can’t hold a proper funeral. I just plan to quietly bury his clothes and belongings by myself.”
At her words, we lowered our heads in silence to pay our respects.
I held the crystal orb tightly and extended my hand.
“Shall we go then?”
“……”
“What’s wrong?”
“Um… do I have to go together with you? Can’t you just send me alone?”
For some reason, Diana’s face reddened slightly.
“The place I used to live… there are some personal belongings there.”
“……”
“Like… undergarments.”
“You said they were your husband’s belongings.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
What do you mean, “that’s right”?
Now Armelia and Aina’s faces were just as red as hers.
Hmm. If I said I already saw them earlier, I’d probably get stoned to death, huh?
Pretending not to notice, I spoke again.
“I’m not sure if that’ll work. I thought you had to move together with the orb’s owner for it to activate.”
“You don’t have to strain yourself. Just… close your eyes when I go.”
“No, it’s fine. Let’s give it a try.”
I wasn’t sure if it’d work, but I gripped the orb and spoke.
“I want to send Miss Diana Mame to her own house, to the room she was in ten minutes ago—where her undergarments were.”
“M–Mr. Mason!”
Before she could even protest, her figure vanished.
Oh—it worked.
I nodded to myself in quiet amazement.
“This is quite the discovery. It seems you don’t necessarily have to travel with the orb’s owner. You could use it to send someone elsewhere, as long as the owner designates them.”
“……”
“……”
“Your Highness, Aina… your faces are very red.”
“Not particularly.”
“It’s just… warm in here.”
They both began fanning themselves furiously.
Just then—
“Ugh… ngh.”
Eris came to her senses.
We hurried toward her.
“Fa— no, Mr. Bake.”
“My lady. You’re awake.”
“Yes. I had a very pleasant dream.”
“What kind of dream, if I may ask?”
“I saw my father again.”
Berseum’s throat tightened.
Eris turned her head toward the window and continued.
“My father suddenly lost his mind one day. He abandoned my mother and me, wandering across the continent, spreading nonsense about the Demon King’s descent.”
“……I know.”
“It must’ve been because of Brother Might, right?”
Might?
Since she called him “brother”… that must mean he’s Berseum’s son.
Berseum hesitated briefly before replying.
“I’m not sure.”
“Hehe… I see.”
“……”
“Brother Might suddenly went missing one day. My father had always been well-versed in astrology, but after Brother vanished, he became completely obsessed with it. He roamed the world searching for all sorts of records—just to learn what had become of him.”
Perhaps still weak from the surgery, she took a breath before continuing.
“And then, one day, my father came home after a long time away. He called my mother and me to him and said—with a face pale as death—”
“……”
“Brother Might is nowhere in this world, he said. The Demon King took him away, and in the Eternal Hell, he was being toyed with forever.”
“……”
“When the Demon King grows bored of that game, he’ll descend upon the world again—to pick out new toys.”
We listened to Eris’s words, forgetting even to breathe.
I turned to Berseum with wide eyes.
The ‘Demon King’ must mean Magireta.
And this ‘Might’ person was surely one of the quest participants from the previous batch.
Those who failed the quest ended up in Magireta’s grasp, then?
Magireta must take the eliminated ones back to hell, to amuse herself with them as she pleases.
And when she grows bored, she returns… huh.
Then Eris spoke again.
“My father left us, saying he had to warn the world. And a few years later, he was executed for crimes that shook the Empire.”
“……Yes.”
“But my father was always a mysterious man. Maybe… maybe he didn’t die after all.”
“……Yes.”
“Then, you know… maybe, just maybe…”
Drip.
A tear slid down Eris’s cheek.
“Could he ever come back someday? My father.”
“……”
“Come back to us, and protect my mother and me again—like you do, Bake?”
Berseum couldn’t answer for a long time.
Not because he didn’t have an answer.
But because he was desperately trying to say one— and his tears and overwhelming emotion simply sealed his mouth shut.
A few minutes later, he finally managed to speak.
“He surely will.”
Eris turned from the window to look at Berseum.
Even as tears streamed down her face, a smile bloomed upon her lips.
The two of them—father and daughter—were truly alike.
“Yeah. It surely will.”
Eris fell back asleep, almost as if she had fainted.
Aina spoke.
“The surgery was perfect, so don’t worry. I’ll prepare a month’s worth of medicine—make sure she takes it with every meal.”
“Understood.”
Berseum calmly replied, straightened his clothes, and then bowed deeply to Aina and to us.
“I’m truly grateful to all of you. I don’t even know what words could express my heart right now.”
“D–Don’t do that. Raise your head.”
“My daughter is the last anchor keeping me sane. By saving Eris, you saved me as well.”
“I said it’s fine! Stop already.”
Swoosh.
Berseum straightened his back.
Then, with a gentle expression—like a grandfather gazing at his granddaughter—he said to Aina,
“I owe a great debt to all three of you, but to you especially, Aina.”
“Shouldn’t you be thanking Mason more? He’s the one who unlocked the security. Of course, Her Highness didn’t really do anything, though.”
Armelia mumbled, her shoulders slumping.
“I worked hard too… I was the one who figured out the movement routes…”
“With the dignity of a princess, please let it slide gracefully.”
“The princess is human too.”
“Indeed.”
“That’s all you’ve got to say?”
At that moment, Berseum turned toward Armelia.
“Would you mind moving somewhere else for a bit, Your Highness?”
We nodded and went downstairs.
Once we sat at a simple table, Berseum spoke quietly.
“My daughter has already said most of it, but I’ll explain again. I had some faint knowledge about the existence of Magireta—and about this so-called ‘quest’ disguised as a game.”
“Your astrology truly is wondrous.”
“No. Eris called it astrology, but it wasn’t that. It was magic.”
We pricked up our ears, listening intently to his words.
Berseum continued his explanation.
“After my son, Might… ended up like that, I wandered all across the continent. During those travels, I found a book in some ruins that contained records of magic.”
“Oh? And where was that?”
“At the southernmost end of the continent. In the ruins of the Begert Desert.”
“The Begert Desert? That’s about as remote as Bucklet Forest.”
“That’s what it’s known as now. But long ago, that place was a thriving land with a vast population. It was once the capital of the Kingdom of Mermada.”
Mermada?
I’d never heard of such a kingdom.
Even the Princess, whose memory was beyond human, tilted her head.
“I’ve never heard of it. It couldn’t have been omitted from my history lessons.”
“It wasn’t recorded anywhere. Not just in the records—people’s memories of it were completely erased.”
“What…?”
“According to my research, the final survivor of a past Magireta quest made a wish—to erase the Kingdom of Mermada completely from the world.”
We all drew in a sharp breath.
Magireta had promised that whoever survived to the very end of a quest could have one wish granted.
And someone from a past generation had wished for an entire kingdom to disappear?
Whoever it was, I couldn’t begin to understand their reasoning.
After a brief silence, Aina asked,
“So, old man, you learned magic from those ruins? All self-taught?”
“Yes. But I already had a foundation.”
“……?”
“I was born with the ability to sense mana. I just didn’t realize that’s what it was until I found that place.”
Our mouths fell open.
Just like Armelia and Aina, this old man was a monster too.
“There weren’t many magic books left in the ruins, so the magic I learned was quite limited. Still, it was sheer luck that one of them contained the magic of Kanesella.”
“Well, thanks to that, we learned about the existence of the core.”
“The fall of the Kingdom of Mermada is estimated to have been around 1,200 years ago.”
“That’s… truly shocking.”
Aina was right.
That meant there had already been a Magireta quest 1,200 years ago.
How many quests had taken place since then?
Berseum’s son, Might, must have been a participant in the previous round.
And the gap between the last quest and this one was incredibly short.
As if reading my mind, Berseum continued,
“The period between my son’s quest and ours was indeed short. But there’s no guarantee that the game has always occurred at regular intervals since 1,200 years ago.”
“……”
“If quests happened that frequently, humanity would’ve noticed somehow. Unless, of course, Magireta erased all memories and records of it with her so-called omnipotence.”
“I don’t think she did. If she had, the ruins of the Kingdom of Mermada wouldn’t still exist.”
Berseum nodded.
Armelia crossed her arms.
“I see. To an inhuman being like Magireta, it probably didn’t matter whether humanity caught on to her quests or not. Given her personality, she might’ve even left clues or traces around just for fun.”
“Then why is it that we’re forbidden to speak about the quest now?”
“Maybe to prevent anyone from interfering midway through. She wouldn’t want anyone spoiling her amusement.”
“……”
“In other words, once the quest ends, she might not be as thorough about the ‘after-effects’ as we think. If that’s true, maybe there haven’t been that many quests after all.”
I picked up from Armelia’s thought.
“I agree. But still, the time between the last quest and this one is extremely short.”
“……”
“This is just my intuition.”
“I trust your intuition more than anything. Speak freely.”
“Yes. It might be that the cycle of Magireta’s quests is growing shorter and shorter.”
Everyone shuddered, as if struck by a sudden chill.
I exhaled lightly and continued.
“Lord Berseum, you said your son’s soul was being toyed with by Magireta in hell, correct?”
“Yes. One of the spells I learned let me peer into another dimension. It was such powerful magic that I was bedridden for ten days after using it once.”
“Magireta’s pattern is this: after she enjoys the quest to her fill, she takes the eliminated ones to hell, plays with them there… and when she grows bored, she returns.”
“……”
“If the interval between quests is shrinking, that means she’s growing bored more and more quickly. And if her boredom reaches its limit…”
Gulp.
I swallowed without realizing it.
“She might decide this quest should be her last.”
“By ‘end it’… you mean?”
“Well… perhaps erase the entire continent she no longer needs.”
“……!”
“It’s just my speculation—or rather, my delusion. Don’t take it too seriously.”
Even so, everyone’s expressions darkened.
To change the mood, I clapped my hands lightly.
“Well, since this talk isn’t exactly productive, let’s stop here. Let’s move on to something a bit more interesting.”
“Something interesting?”
“Yes. Let’s go find Edgar Tyler.”
Aina blinked.
“Find that guy? How?”
“As expected, you really are a bit… No, never mind.”
“You basically said it.”
“Just like I realized something earlier—if we use this, it’ll be easy.”
Tap.
I placed the teleportation bead on the table.
“All we have to do is ask it to send us to where Edgar Tyler is.”